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Dear Simon Lake Families,
As many of you may have already heard, this year at Simon Lake School we are working with a math program called Investigations. The reason we have made this change is to provide a mathematical program that will engage all students in making sense of mathematical ideas, in order to think more deeply about how math works and why it works in the real world. Investigations is a complete K-5 mathematics curriculum, developed at TERC (the Teacher Education Resource Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is among the most widely used curricula for standards based mathematics. It is designed to help all children understand the fundamental ideas of number and operations, geometry, data, measurement and early algebra.
Investigations are divided into one hour sessions, or lessons. The sessions have a combination of five parts: Discussion, Activities, Math workshop, Assessment Activity, and Session Follow-Up. Each session also has one or more Classroom Routines and Ten-Minute Math activities that are done outside of math time. There are many ways to support students in this program through daily observations, unit assessments, computer software, and an Investigations website. Students and parents also have access to a math handbook which contains information about each lesson, including a section on how to play some of the math games at home. We hope you will support your children by reading and sharing the family letters that are sent home as a guide to help your child complete homework and think about math in their everyday life.
Investigations is a researched based program through collaboration between TERC and over 50 classroom teachers, over the course of 5 years. The research is based on:
• what was learned over the course of more than 10 years of implementation of the 1st edition of Investigations. We are using the new 2nd edition.
•the publication of NCTM's (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Principles and Standards for School Mathematics in 2000
• continued research in the field of math education
• two full years of field testing in a variety of classroom settings
You will be receiving a handout that will provide you with an overview of the program, including a link to the Investigations website, which includes more information about the program and a site just for families. This handout is also included as a link below. Classroom teachers will also be able to share more about the specific units taught at their respective grade levels, including the consumable practice book and student resource guide.
We are committed as a school to provide a learning community that incorporates the latest in research based practices that supports all students. This curriculum takes seriously the time students need to develop a strong conceptual foundation and skills based on that foundation. Daily guidelines for time spent on class sessions, classroom routines, and ten minute math reflect our commitment and rigor to devoting adequate time to mathematics in school each day. Thank you and we look forward to working with you this year to support our students in math.
Sincerely,
The Simon Lake Faculty
For a copy of the information given out at Open House about Math Investigations please click here.
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